That thing is just ridiculous. With such a long climb, it is inevitable that there will be cyclists ascending and descending simultaneously - who will blink first and pull their bike off the rail to give way? This of course must happen in the middle of a steep narrow staircase with pedestrians trying to pass too. I just can't fathom the thinking behind it.

As much as people complain about the SHB staircase, at least the staircase is wide, the ramp is wide, and the ramp is logically located in the middle of the stairs to enable simultaneous ascent and descent.

Bicycle traffic is way way way thinner than SHB - don't think there'll be contention for use of the track, especially when there is a presently viable option to use the road exit about 150 to 200 m south on Blaxland Rd. The yet to be commissioned traffic lights may increase it's appeal.

Hard to figure why the ramp is so close to the southern side of the stairway - you wouldn't want to have wide MTB bars or mirrors protruding over the bar ends. Not like you're going to hold the rail while cycling up or down it !

Narrow width seems like its designed if for the Martyn Ashton skill level...

WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

I checked this out today and was just shaking my head. It is not like they were constrained for space. The rail looks like an afterthought, and the alignment is pretty bad. I always push my bike with my right side, so going up that ramp would feel clumsy. I am not sure why they couldn't have just done a ramp down the middle, or ditched the stairs completely and made it a ramp only.

wombatK wrote:Bicycle traffic is way way way thinner than SHB - don't think there'll be contention for use of the track, especially when there is a presently viable option to use the road exit about 150 to 200 m south on Blaxland Rd.

Agreed.

I ride over the bridge multiple times a week and most of the time don't pass another cyclist.

I will be sticking to the road though, much better than slowing down for the stairs.

Had another look at it this afternoon, and at least for now there is a nice gap in the fence at the top of the stairs,and it would be a pretty easy to form a nice "single track" type ride down the hill to the south. It would have a much gentler grade than the stair track. And if you could kick enough of the slippery bark aside (e.g. by sliding, skidding MTB tyres), it could even be negotiable on a road bike

Perhaps constructing an official narrow track like that would have been much cheaper than the rail-on-stairs provision. Just needs a little more lateral thinking than councils would usually put into it.

WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

Had a closer look this morning and I think it's an accident waiting to happen. Looks like it was only designed for pushing your bike up and down. If you get off balance there is not enough room to correct easily and then the sides are too high to easily get out. Someone else can try it and see how it doesn't work.

I'm trying to understand why the rail is even there. I'm guessing its to allow people to avoid having to cross the road by the bridge can be my only guess. Probably good for kids to get access to the foreshore around Rhodes.

wombatK wrote:Narrow width seems like its designed if for the Martyn Ashton skill level...

Slightly off topic... but I didn't see anything mentioned on here about Martyn Ashton being permanently paralyzed in an accident during the time he was making this film . Only realized while listening to an interview on the BBC.

toolonglegs wrote:Slightly off topic... but I didn't see anything mentioned on here about Martyn Ashton being permanently paralyzed in an accident during the time he was making this film . Only realized while listening to an interview on the BBC.

Cossie Phil wrote:Whats wrong with carrying your bike up or down steps?

Nothing, particularly, but this particular bike path continues on to a road which takes you past the bottom of the stairs. They are the most useless set of stairs for bikes to use, since you can avoid the stairs with a 100 m ride. I do it daily.

Agree, the steps really are useless for cycling. They are clearly intended to give pedestrians access from the Rhodes foreshore to the shared pathway across the bridge, without the need to cross the road.

It would have just as simple, and maybe less costly, to build a shared path across the hill and down to the foreshore at a more gentle angle. This would give a continuous cyclepath all the way from the foreshore all the way to Meadowbank.

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